Monaghan native Gary Mohan is a suckler farmer who attempts to balance life on the farm, a job as a site engineer, and the demands of being a senior inter-county footballer.
The Truagh man comes from a 40ac farm in North Monaghan. Although it is predominately a suckler farm, Mohan told Agriland he keeps sheep as well.
“I’ve a flock of sheep. I just seem to love the torture of it – they’re nothing but torture.”
Mohan made his debut for the Monaghan senior footballers in 2022. Since then, he has been a constant presence in the starting lineup.
“It’s very tough. I get up at 4:30a.m to get the farming done and I’m away to be on site for 7:00a.m.” he said.
“I’m in the middle of calving at the moment, so I’ve a camera on my phone so that I can keep an eye on them. If I check them in the morning, I’ll know if they’re going to calve or not.
“After work, I go to training. I get home from training at 10:30p.m, and I do a bit of farming after that again. Then I get up in the morning and do it all again,” he added.
“I try and get a bit of sleep in every now and again, whenever I get the chance.”
On the football field, Mohan is currently out of action with an injury.
With both the football season and the calving season in full swing, the Truagh man believes that his busy schedule may have something to do with his injury.
“[Monaghan} want me getting maximum rest and recovery, obviously I want to do that myself. I have to make them decisions, but you can’t tell a hungry cow in the evening, ‘I’m going to training’,” he explained.
Monaghan football
Mohan told Agriland that he has always looked up to Monaghan midfielder, and dairy farmer, Darren Hughes.
Despite his respect for his teammate, Mohan has a slightly different approach to farming.
“Darren has a different set-up compared to me. He runs a very successful dairy farm,” Mohan said.
“He’s lucky enough, he gets his nap during the day. He has machines to do it all for him. I would be more manual labour, the old style.”
Despite the long hours and the “torture”, Mohan loves what he does, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You don’t see too many inter-county footballers being farmers. They go down the road of doing teaching degrees, easier stuff that you can get away from work with plenty of free time. Farming is 24/7, you don’t get the free lifestyle of all the other jobs,” he said.
“I did a spell of teaching, it just wasn’t the hard work I needed to be doing. It was nearly too easy. I’m happy enough where I’m at, at the minute.
“Anything you do in life you want to do to the best of your ability, that’s where I’m at with both football and farming. I suppose I’m gonna have to make the decision, and look about getting rid of the sheep,” he concluded.
